Duane Pandorf Photography

This is my “mini” review of Tim Isaac’s Thumbs Up and Opera Act 4 for the Leica M rangefinder camera.  In the course of my interest and research on anything Leica M camera stuff it was hard not to come across Tim Isaac’s products, especially the Thumbs Up and his line of soft releases at Match Technical Services.

Before purchasing my Leica M-E, I had only handled the Leica M9 a couple times.  Twice while visiting my friend Albert in Barcelona, Spain and once while on vacation in San Diego.  My initial impressions of the camera were it is built like a tank and of course heavier than my Ricoh GXR.  The Leica M does not have a grip so to speak, of course there are optional attachments one can buy.  Those that shoot the film Leica Ms use the film advance lever to rest their thumb on to help in holding the camera.  Since the digital Ms don’t have a film advance lever Tim Isaac created  the Thumbs Up device.

From the Match Technical Service website: “This serves to dampen vibration, provide a more stable contact with the camera body and better protect the Leica camera body.”  I can say after having the Thumbs Up on my Leica M-E it makes a big difference in how the camera handles.  I could not see using this camera without it.

I also purchased Tim Isaacs soft release “The Opera Act 4”.  I find the soft release really helps in providing a better “feel” when actuating the shutter release and allows me to gain about a full stop in hand held operation.

So if you have a digital Leica M and haven’t tried the Thumbs Up yet I can highly recommend Tim’s Thumbs Up and any of his soft releases.